WCSU Chamber Singers, Concert Choir to present 'Images of War'
DANBURY, CONN. — The Western Connecticut State University Concert Choir and Chamber Singers will present “Images of War” at 3 p.m. on Sunday, April 20, in the Ives Concert Hall in White Hall on the university’s Midtown campus, 181 White St., in Danbury.
The “Images of War” concert, featuring choral performances by 120 WestConn student singers, will include nine compositions on the theme of war, augmented by a continuous slide show of images of war and military-related themes portrayed in photographs, paintings, poster art, newspapers and other media.
Professor of Music Dr. Kevin Jay Isaacs, who will conduct the performance, personally chose the 275 images that will be projected during the concert. Isaacs said that he sought to reflect the totality of the war experience through the images selected. The images will be projected from two computers onto two screens on either side of the stage, and the slide show will continue throughout the concert.
“There is no political position being taken by the performers, conductor or the university,” Isaacs explained. “I merely wanted to perform moving music that had been inspired by war. The music and images will tell the story; we will not.”
The WCSU Chamber Singers will perform seven works, including “Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ye” by Alice Parker, “He’s Gone Away” by W. Jack Best, “They Are There!” by Charles Ives, “Find the Cost of Freedom” by Stephen Stills, “In Flanders’ Fields” by Frank. B. Bailey, “Earth Song” by Frank Ticheli, and “Battle of Jericho” by Roger Wagner. The WCSU Concert Choir will perform Franz Joseph Haydn’s “Mass in Time of War” and the traditional American work “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” Adjunct Professor of Music Patricia Lutnes will accompany on the piano.
The concert will be free and the public is invited; donations to the Friends of Music Scholarship Fund will be accepted.
For more information, call Isaacs at (203) 837-8355 or the Office of University Relations at (203) 837-8486.
